NYC: Photo Roundup

American flags before the Delaware bridge

By this point in time have you gathered how we love to snap and share pics every time we visit NYC? What can we say — it's a city near and dear to our hearts. It's also a place we feel like we could visit for the rest of our lifetimes' and always find something new.

Well today is much like the week following our other trips to the city (here, here, here and here) where we post and share some of our favorite new and old spots from our latest trip. Let's get to it, shall we? This go round we hit the road and drove up to the city early. We left RVA right around 3:30am, just in time to watch the sun rising as we crossed over the Delaware bridge:

Once we hit the New Jersey Turnpike, we feel like we are on the home stretch and always cross our fingers for a straight shoot into the city (it can go really great or terribly bad).

Mary thought it would be fun to make one of those souvenir pennies at one of the Turnpike rest stations:

You put 2 quarters and a penny in the machine slots before deciding which design you want and crank it out:

Mary began cranking the wheel before landing on a design which resulted in this here "one of a kind" souvenir penny from our road-trip:

That's my girl.

We took the Holland Tunnel exit instead of  going into Brooklyn via Staten Island like we normally do since we'd be heading straight into Manhattan to check out The High Line (more on our trip to The High Line here). This was the view of the city we had taking this route — we agreed it's actually a much better view of the Statue of Liberty taking this exit.

Since it was early, we drove straight on into the city and headed for Chelsea Market. We're familiar with that area of town and knew there was an access point onto The High Line just out the back of the market.

For those of you unfamiliar with Chelsea Market, it's a great spot to visit while in the city. The upper floors consists of the Food Network studios and offices while the ground floor has a ton of great shops, food pockets, places to sit down and catch your breath, seasonal displays and public bathrooms!

It's the time of year we love where the big pumpkin display is out. Each year, they display tons of incredibly decorated and carved pumpkins that are really more like works of art:

 

Chelsea Market is famous for many things, one of which is their over-the-top cupcakes. We snapped the following pics of the Elmo cake and cupcakes to show our nephew, Benjamin, who is going through one of the most spirited phases with this red furry monster as of late:

We also stopped into The Lobster Place, which evidently seems to be the place to go for lobster on a Sunday mid-morning.

 

We then headed outside to get access to The High Line, but not before stopping to take a photo in that strip of street between Morimoto, Colicchio & Sons, and Del Posto:

Then it was up an onto The High Line:

Monday evening we had the opportunity to attend the 11th Annual Martha Stewart Wedding Bridal Fashion Week Party, which was awesome (more on that to come):

We also got a chance to walk up and down Atlantic Avenue throughout the Boerum Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn where we stayed this trip. We loved all the little independent stores and antique shops lining the streets in this area:

Antiques were literally just put out on the street as store displays and we darted in and out of so many of them, just marveling at how many good things there were to be seen. It was almost overwhelming and while we had a lot of fun window shopping, this was a trip we left everything we saw back in Brooklyn:

Recognize the style of these chairs? We did too. These were a pair of worn and rusted authentic Tolix chairs going at $350 for the pair (which made us feel even better about these chairs we found for our own dining room).

Wednesday afternoon I was able to meet the faces behind the scenes at Lot18, the curated wine company I regularly guest post for.

It's a funny thing being able to collaborate on the internet — I've been writing with these amazing folks at Lot18 for several months now and was both honored and excited to finally sit down and chat face to face over a great meal while in town.

Speaking of food and spirits, it wouldn't be a trip to the city without some good eats! We visited a few of our favorite haunts, including Le Barricou and Aurora, but we also got the chance to try a couple new places in the neighborhood we were staying.

First up was Flatbush Farm, a cozy space specializing in sustainable, seasonal and local fare:

We also finally got to try out a couple of Bark Dogs:

For those unfamiliar, Bark Hot Dogs are some of the most delicious hot dogs Mary and I have ever tasted. I first heard about them on Food Curated and were sold after we heard the words "organic" and "cooked in butter." Yes, you heard that right. I ordered us up 2 of "classics."

Fun fact — if you join their rewards program, you'll be asked to name your favorite superhero. I though Underdog was fitting in this situation...

If you find yourself in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn or even visiting The High Line, we'd recommend grabbing a Bark Dog as a little pick-me-up! More thoughts on hot dogs, including a peek at the ones I tried while in Chicago here.

Rucola was a little brunch spot we enjoyed getting a Bloody Mary at while resting our feet before initially checking into the hotel on Sunday:

 

See that coffee can of greens up there? Those are strawberry plants streaming down — we loved it.

Let's take a moment to talk about what a great fiance I am! Hey, I gotta take what I can get. For months now Mary has been planning to try on a wedding dress in NYC. It just so happened to coincide with the trip I came up on. She booked an appointment at Lovely Bridal Shop:

I was in the neighborhood when she got off the train to try on the dress so I told her I'd wait at the oyster bar a few blocks away while she did her thing and to call me when she was finished. I knew it could go one of two ways — she'd either be on top of the world or feeling down that what she thought might be "the one" didn't turn out to be. I wanted to be there either way.

When she called me on the way down the block to the oyster bar with the good news she'd found her dress, I gave the good signal for the bartender who I'd been telling the back-story to, to pour a glass of bubbly to have waiting for when Mary walked through the door. It was classic:

I have no idea what the dress looks like, nor do I want to before the wedding, but knowing she was over the moon was good enough for me.

Near the end of our stay, we were excited to attend a book signing and food tasting event for Nancy Singleton Hachisu, the author of Japanese Farm Food at The Brooklyn Kitchen:

We've raved over The Brooklyn Kitchen & The Meat Hook collaborative space before, but this is another one of our favorite spots that just oozes "cool" if you ever find yourself in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area of Brooklyn.

It was really interesting hearing Nancy's stories of living on an organic Japanese farm while she simultaneously prepared a simple and delicious dinner for all of us to share. We got to meet her at the end of the event while she signed our book and hope to try tackling a couple of the recipes in the months to come.

Industrial view from the hotel where we stayed throughout the week just before packing up to leave:

Also of note, we got amazing views of One World Trade Center almost anywhere we were in both the city and Brooklyn. It's truly an amazing site to see and one we feel honored and lucky to witness being built:

Our week in NYC was definitely one for the memory books and we're proud to say we ventured out and tried some new things while still getting to enjoy all of our old favorites. We're certainly glad to be back home in RVA, and are already looking forward to our next trip back.